Almost funny. Awkward silence. Repeat.

September 14, 2015September 15, 2015

Elementary, my dear Watson!

First things first, Sherlock Holmes never told this to Watson or anyone else in a career spanning more than a century!

Back to Watson.

Watto was never a permanent fixture in the Australian team be it tests, ODIs or T20s. But the thing with Watson is that he would have been part of any Australian dream squad had his ankles, knees, Achilles heels, thighs, groin, shoulders, back and his bowling arm allowed at one point in time or the other!

Being a big-framed man, Watto grappled with fitness issues all through his career. Things worsened because he was an all rounder with additional training sessions in the nets and practically no breather in a test or a one-day match.

When he arrived on the scene, he was hailed as a genuine all-rounder in the mold of a Jacques Kallis. In tests, he has moved up and down the batting order like a busy elevator in an office building. He has been an opening bowler, the first change, the fifth bowler tasked with containing the batsmen settling into the attack. It’s when he did this containing the batsmen that he exceeded the brief. He would take regular wickets with his 130+ deliveries which seamed and swung to his tunes most of the time!

The last thing I remember about Watto is the duel with Wahab Riaz at the World Cup 2015. Wahab bowled his heart out, confronted Watson again and again but the important thing was that he didn’t lose his wicket to provocation.

He was a true team man and as far as his interviews go, the announcement of his retirement was a gem. As with most Australians, he is somebody who calls a spade a spade. He clearly said that he didn’t think that he had anything to offer to test cricket and that his time was up. He also acknowledged the fact that he hadn’t achieved half of what he had originally set out to do in cricket. He came across as honest and somebody who is what you see is what you get.

Would have loved to see Watson in whites for an year or two, but then age is catching up with the best of them.

I still hope to see his all-round brilliance in ODIs and T20 at least for a couple of years.